SUMMER

2015

The Curious
History of
Electric Ship
Propulsion

Charge It...
Remotely!

Welcome to the
Energy Village

#03
VOL. 2
SUMMER 2015
FUTURE FORCE
NAVAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
ARTICLES ▼
Generating Undersea Power at the
Global Energy Village
Making Pulsed Power Compact for
Mission Loads
Using High-Power Lasers to
Recharge Remotely
New Biofuels on the Horizon for
the Great Green Fleet
COLUMNS ▼
Speaking of S&T
Dr. Joseph T. Arcano Jr.
How We Got Here
The Curious History of Electric Ship Propulsion
Future Watch:
Stored Energy
Editor in Chief
► Capt. Robert E. Palisin, USN
Assistant Chief of Naval Research, ONR
Editorial Staff (Contractors)
► Colin E. Babb, Managing Editor
► David Smalley, Associate Editor
► Katherine H. Crawford, Assistant Editor
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
► Warren Duffie, Assistant Editor
► Alvin Quiambao, Art Director
► John F. Williams, Photo Editor
To submit an article or Future Force Magazine
subscribe to Future Force,
Office of Naval Research
please visit our website or 875 N. Randolph Street, Suite 1425
2 contact the managing editor. Arlington, VA 22203-1995
BEYOND FUTURE FORCE ▼
Interactive features are enabled with the digital copy of Future Force:
f u tu r ef or ce. nav yli v e. dodliv e. mil
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14 28 What’s the Mission of the Naval “PAY ATTENTION TO THE POWER”:
18 32
Enterprise Energy Team?
A Powerful Location: The Naval Ship Systems
Engineering Station
10 AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. RICH CARLIN
The director of the Office of Naval Research’s Sea Warfare and Weapons
science and technology department talks about the latest research on power
22 36 Storage Modules Will Help Fuel the Future and energy.
26
LITTLE BIG POWER: FUEL CELLS
04 40
06 42
Tomorrow’s Tech:
Marine Austere Patrolling System
A Look Ahead:
Advanced Materials
30 FOR LARGE UNDERSEA VEHICLES
The Navy is building a new generation of large unmanned undersea
vehicles that will require innovative power technologies.
38
Editorial Board
Future Force is a professional magazine of the naval science and technology community.
Published quarterly by the Office of Naval Research, its purpose is to inform
readers about basic and applied research and advanced technology development efforts funded by the Department
► Dr. Stephen D. Russell
of the Navy. The mission of this publication is to enhance awareness of the decisive naval capabilities that are being
Director of Science and Technology, SPAWAR
discovered, developed, and demonstrated by scientists and engineers for the Navy, Marine Corps, and nation.
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Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, RDT&E endorsement by the Department of the Navy. Any opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily
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FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
represent the views of the U.S. government, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.
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Email: futureforce@navy.mil
Phone: (703) 696-5031 Front Cover: Power and Energy, Illustration by Alvin Quiambao
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 SPEAKING
OF S&T ►► Dr. Joseph T. Arcano Jr.

N
apoleon is credited with saying “an army marches on its stomach.” In much the same vein, our Navy and Marine
Corps assets move on their fuel capacity. Endurance, speed, range, and overall warfighting capability are dramatically
impacted by the advancement of power and energy technologies, and the associated fuel resources required. The
Department of the Navy is committed to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, optimizing endurance on the occasions when
such fuels are needed, and finding ways to use alternative fuels. Optimizing our power and energy portfolio and technology
advancements in those arenas will lessen the negative impact this challenging logistical tail has on our operational forces.

Across the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE), scientists and engineers are pursuing many
technological breakthroughs focusing on power and energy. As you can see from the diverse stakeholders and their
associated power and energy topics represented in the pages of this issue of Future Force, these efforts cross a wide swath
of domains.

In June the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock Division hosted Energy Storage Summit II at our headquarters
in West Bethesda, Maryland, building on the summit in October 2014 at NSWC Crane Division. Interested parties from
across the Naval Research Enterprise met to engage each other with energy storage as the focal point. This summit brought
together some of the best and brightest minds working to reduce the cost of storing energy to support a wide range of
future naval capabilities in the air, at sea, and on land.

A highlight was hearing from Mateo Jaramillo, the director of Tesla Energy at Tesla Motors, regarding Tesla’s efforts in the Power and Energy
energy arena and how we can move to a sustainable energy future. The summit was a success, and there will no doubt
be many more—a showcase of the NR&DE’s collaborative efforts on future technologies, and an opportunity to continue The systems, materials, fuels, and other technologies
refining the plans, programs, and concepts that will ultimately help us reach our goal of reducing full lifecycle costs of that provide motive and labor force to the machines,
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

energy storage to the Navy and Marine Corps. vehicles, and personnel of the fleet and force.

That’s an ambitious goal. But it’s just one part of the Navy’s commitment to power and energy: to identify, evaluate, and Photo by PO1 Steven King
accelerate the transition of solutions to increase our energy efficiency. Collectively and individually we need to come up
with the “game changers,” the “disruptive technology advancements” that we can use for getting our Navy and Marine Corps
customers longer, more affordable endurance with greater mission effectiveness.
Opposite, Dr. Joseph T. Arcano (far right) hosts Chief
This summer issue of Future Force features stories on technologies both in development and fielded. It includes highlights of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert
of activity at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the Naval Research Laboratory, the
(fourth from right) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center
Office of Naval Research, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. All of us are committed to keeping our
Carderock Division.
Sailors and Marines safe and our Navy the best in the world. These articles highlight just some of the tremendous efforts the
Navy science and technology community is working on to meet this goal. I hope you enjoy reading about them.
Photo by MCC Peter D. Lawlor
4 Dr. Arcano is the technical director of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division. 5
 HOW WE GOT HERE
By Colin E. Babb
The Curious
History of Electric
Ship Propulsion
F
or more than a decade, naval
engineers and others have been
calling for the introduction
of the “all-electric” ship in the US
Navy. With the increasing electrical
needs of communications and radar
systems and the rise of entirely new
energy-hungry technologies such as
lasers and electromagnetic railguns,
proponents argue that warships of the
near future will demand electric-drive
systems that can distribute power
among propulsion, communications,
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
weapons, and other ship systems as
needed. While the systems needed to
power ships are more sophisticated
than ever, the idea of the electric ship
is, in fact, an old one, and for much of
the 20th century the Navy had at least
several and sometimes numerous ships
powered by electric drive.
What distinguishes electric propulsion
and all-electric ships, in the simplest
6 7
find employment elsewhere, Emmet
drifted into electrical engineering and
was soon building electric motors
for urban rail projects across the
Midwest. Working at Edison General
Electric and then the General Electric
Company after it formed in 1892,
Emmet was involved in many of the
company’s biggest early ventures,
including building turbines for the
first major hydroelectric power plant
near Buffalo, New York. A brief return
to naval service during the Spanish
War of 1898 reintroduced Emmet
to the “New Navy,” coinciding with
Photo courtesy of Tacoma Public Library
General Electric’s turn toward steam
turbine projects that eventually would
be shopped to the Navy.
In 1908, according to historian
William McBride, Canadian inventor
Reginald Fessenden submitted
a proposal to the Navy for a
turboelectric drive that was rejected.
Fessenden, however, was allowed to
contact other companies that might
be interested in the idea. Emmet at
General Electric proved enthusiastic
terms, is that the machinery for In 1929, USS Lexington (CV 2) used its about the possibility of turboelectric
electric propulsion system to power the
generating power and the machinery city of Tacoma, Washington, during an drive and formulated detailed
local energy crisis. drawings from Fessenden’s proposal.
for propelling the ship are not
mechanically connected. For the first Emmet outlined his ambitious plans
important advantage of such a system
century of steam propulsion on ships, in a lengthy paper in the Transactions
is that each component can operate at
most engines were joined directly to of the Society of Naval Architects and
maximum efficiency—the turbine can
propellers or paddlewheels through Marine Engineers in 1909. Describing
spin at consistently high revolutions,
the use of rods and pistons—all two systems—the first being a hybrid
and the propeller can be set at the
falling under the general category of electric/steam turbine combination,
most efficient revolutions for any given
reciprocating engines. Very early in the the other a pure turboelectric
speed or situation. In addition, there
20th century, steam-driven turbines drive—Emmet advocated for the
is no need for a long propeller shaft,
began to appear (HMS Dreadnought, installation of electric drives in the
freeing room in the ship for other
famous for the novelty of its all-big- Navy’s battleships, even though he
machinery.
gun armament, also happened to admitted in practice they had never
be the first major warship to receive been tested on anything larger than
A central figure in the history of the
this new type of propulsion in 1906). firefighting boats in Lake Michigan.
Navy’s adoption of electric drive is
This engine consisted of a high- In Emmet’s hands, the electric drive
William Le Roy Emmet, a graduate
revolution turbine connected by acquired a significant ally in Secretary
of the Naval Academy Class of 1881
reduction gears to the more slowly of the Navy George von Lengerke
and a longtime engineer at General
spinning propeller. In an electric Meyer. Leveraging an endorsement
Electric. Emmet’s Navy career was cut
drive, the power-generating turbine of turboelectric drive from the Navy’s
short in 1883 after his initial post-
is connected only electrically to a General Board, Meyer authorized
academy cruise because of a new
separate motor or motors, each of the installation of electric propulsion
law that severely limited the number
which drives a propeller. The most in one of three new coal-hauling
of officers in the service. Forced to
colliers that began construction in
1910.
In an attempt to determine the most
efficient and effective of the three
types of propulsion, the Navy decided
that each of the three colliers would
have a different engine. In addition,
installing new equipment on these
noncombatant vessels would avoid
the risky step of evaluating them
on expensive battleships. The three
William Le Roy Emmet (1858-1941)
designed the Navy’s first electric
propulsion systems. Image courtesy of
Philip Hone Williams.
colliers were: USS Cyclops (AC
4), which received reciprocating
engines; USS Neptune (AC 8),
which received steam turbines;
and USS Jupiter (AC 3), the last of
the three to be built in 1912, which
was equipped with turboelectric
drive. The decision was prudent as
well as practical—although they
were auxiliaries, the colliers’ size
(20,000 tons) was comparable to
the battleships being laid down at
the same time (22–26,000 tons).
Once Jupiter underwent trials
in 1913, the ship proved to be a
success and, according to a report
by chief engineer S.M. Robinson,
exceeded General Electric’s economy
predictions over the rival engines by
18 percent. Emmet also triumphantly
declared in his own report on the
trials that, “If my first design for a
warship made over four years ago [in
1909] had been accepted by the Navy
Department, the vessel produced
would have been very greatly superior
in respect to economy, reliability,
weight, simplicity, and cruising radius
to any ship now afloat.”
Meyer’s successor, Josephus Daniels,
gave Emmet the opportunity he
was looking for in 1915 by ensuring
that electric drive would go in the
battleship USS New Mexico (BB
40), the first major warship to be
electrically driven. In 1916 and 1917,
however, electric drive would be
at the center of a major debate
between the Navy and the nation’s
shipbuilders as both groups prepared
plans for a host of new battleships
proposed under 1916 legislation
intended to make the Navy “second to
none.” One of the interesting features
of the controversy was that it pitted
the Bureau of Steam Engineering as
the proponent of (ostensibly more
progressive) turboelectric propulsion
for the Navy’s latest battleships,
against many of the nation’s biggest
shipbuilders, which lobbied against
the new technology as a threat to
traditional propulsion (and higher
profits). Initially skeptical of electric
drive, the bureau was won over
by Jupiter’s success. Shipbuilders,
however, balked at the increased
costs of producing the new drives,
which were more complex than steam
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
turbines or reciprocating engines.
With the help of vocal bureau
spokesmen and, according to
McBride, a host of luminaries such
as Nicola Tesla who favored electric
drive, public opinion swung toward
approval of the new system and
opposition from industry abated. Five
other battleships—USS Tennessee
(BB 43), USS California (BB 44), USS
 Colorado (BB 45), USS Maryland
(BB 46), and USS West Virginia (BB
48)—would receive electric drives
over the next five years, as would the
battlecruisers USS Lexington (CC 1)
and USS Saratoga (CC 3), which would
be converted midway through their
construction into aircraft carriers.
(Consequently, from 1920—when
Jupiter was converted into the first US
aircraft carrier, USS Langley [CV 1]—
until 1934, all US aircraft carriers had
electric drive.)
The first generation of electric
drives, however, never proved in
practice as radically more efficient
than their mechanical rivals as their
proponents had theorized, and
these were the last major ships to
receive electric systems. Lexington
proved the versatility of electric drive,
however, when in late 1929 and early
1930 it provided power for the city
of Tacoma, Washington, during a
drought that had depleted the town’s
power-generating reservoir.
Electric drive would see longer life
in smaller vessels, such as the 102
members of the Buckley (DE 51) class
of destroyer escorts built during World
War II, as well as several classes of
fast transports. Two submarines—USS
Tullibee (SSN 597) and USS Glenard P.
Lipscomb (SSN 685)—also had electric
drives (the latter was the last major
ship in the US Navy to use electric
drive before the modern era). It was
in the merchant service, especially
cruise ships, where electric drive
would continue on to the present
day. First appearing in SS California
(later Uruguay) in 1927, electric drive
has been a common feature of cruise
liners for more than a generation.
The all-electric ships of today are
altogether more complex than the
ships of a century ago, which had
relatively few electrical systems
beyond propulsion and rudimentary
communications and hotel
requirements. The first generation of
ships also did not need pulsing—the
storing and releasing of high volumes
of energy in short timespans. But as
the history of electric drive suggests,
sometimes good ideas take time to
develop fully. In this issue are articles
that describe current efforts to make
the modern all-electric ship a reality,
as well as outline other projects under
way in the area of power and energy.
About the author:
Colin Babb is a support contractor
serving as the historian for the
Office of Naval Research and
managing editor of Future Force.

In 1919, General Electric touted its expertise in electric propulsion (opposite)

with a full-page advertisement in the Cornell Alumni News about USS New
Mexico (BB 40). The collier USS Jupiter (AC 3) was the first ship (below) to
showcase Emmet’s new electric propulsion system in 1913.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

8 9
 “PAY ATTENTION TO THE POWER”:
Talking about Power and Energy with Dr. Rich Carlin

As head of the Sea Warfare and Weapons Department, what are some of
the power and energy challenges that concern you, and where do you
see opportunities?

A: We’ve had a lot of power and energy investments over the years, and many of those technologies have certainly
matured, to the point where we are seeing opportunities now in our ability to start incorporating more advanced
technologies into our platforms. That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop our basic research in power and energy—we’re
always going to be pushing basic research, technology, and science forward—but when we start looking at the platforms,
there’s a very strong pull again to move forward and apply the lessons learned, particularly on the electric ship. So many of
those capabilities have come along tremendously, and we have some new things that will be coming available very soon.

So now we think that the real challenge at this stage is: How do we start putting all these systems, all this advanced
technology, together in a truly working, operating system? We do a lot of work on hardware-in-the-loop, which reduces
the costs of development, but now we’re looking at it to truly put it into test platforms, integrated—and not just the power
system itself. The real challenge here is going to be taking a look at how that power system effectively integrates with the
weapon systems now. I think people are very aware of the great work ONR has been doing in directed-energy systems,
high-power radar systems, railgun, lasers. All these new technologies that are coming forward, well, they need that power.
Now it’s time to bring those things together, and I think that’s really where our challenge is: to prove out that these things

Photo by John F. Williams

can work together very effectively.

Could you talk a little bit more about your department’s efforts as they
relate to the electric ship?

A: Sure. With the standard ship design, you have the main propulsion system with a mechanical drive. And there
you’re talking tens of megawatts of power. When you start looking at the service/auxiliary power capability that
ships will have, with all of these high-power systems, the electric power demand is driving to the point now where
to provide the electrical power that’s necessary, you’re either going to have to install a lot more ship service/auxiliary
Future Force sat down to discuss power and energy issues generating capacity, or you’re going to have to work it so that the main propulsion plant’s power can be directed to the

with Dr. Rich Carlin, head of the Office of Naval Research’s overall electric power system.

(ONR) Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. And so that’s what leads us, what really drives us to say, “How can we integrate all of our power sources into an electrical
system that can provide any power, the high-quality power, and pulse power that are necessary to provide all that full
capability to the ship?” That’s basically what you’re looking at. Think about electric cars. The best example is the hybrid
I wonder if you could talk briefly about ONR’s interests in power and propulsion type systems you see in cars where you have that engine, but think of that as charging the battery, and the car
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

energy. Why is this issue so important for our Sailors and Marines? then runs off that battery—you no longer have mechanical drive, you no longer have that transmission. What you have
instead is just the flow of electricity throughout the car. Over the years, they’ve been doing a really good job of developing

A: Energy and power technology is one of the key focus areas here at ONR, so we’ve had significant investments ongoing
and very long term, looking at a broad range of areas—everything from support for our Marine Corps to our ship
systems, aircraft systems, and, as of late, a lot of work in the unmanned systems area. So it impacts pretty much everything
high-density magnet systems for the electro-mechanical drives that are necessary for cars. That’s been a big enabler for
them. We’ll be doing the same kind of thing. Over the years we have developed very powerful motors for ships.

the warfighter needs, in terms of their capability to go forward.

Orders of magnitude greater than a smart car on I-95.
Also, it’s a very high priority within the secretariat, particularly Secretary [of the Navy Ray] Mabus, who has really pushed this
forward himself as one of his key areas of interest—with the understanding that it provides critical capability to the warfighter.
A: Yeah, just a little bit! You know, with fuel cell cars we talk about 100 kilowatts. So here you’re going to go, let’s say
100 to 1,000 times more.

10 11
 PAY ATTENTION TO THE POWER
Could you talk a little bit about the Sea Warfare and Weapons Department’s
work and interest in power and energy as it relates to unmanned systems?
A: In terms of my department in particular, we come at unmanned systems power from a couple of directions. One,
we’ve had a long-term program with the undersea platforms—torpedoes but also autonomous underwater vehicles.
In that case, we’ve typically been driven by the platform, and by the constraints the platform is going to provide for us. So, 21
inches is the typical diameter that they talk about with that, and that’s really constrained how we can get enough energy and
power into the platforms. The Large-Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle opened us up quite a bit and allowed
us to continue to really expand on that. So we’ve been primarily looking at fuel cells because they have the energy density
that’s necessary and then designing these particular fuel cells to fit into those platforms. We’re designing a power system
to fit into a platform.
Another approach that we took a number of years ago: We were working fuel cells, and I was talking to one of our performers
at the Naval Research Laboratory and asked if they could put a fuel cell into an unmanned aerial vehicle and demonstrate
long endurance on that. They took up that challenge, and in a couple of years they were able to demonstrate, over a
day, world-record capability in terms of flight. And now they’ve actually pushed it to two days by changing from gaseous
hydrogen to liquid hydrogen. And one of the keys to accomplishing that was rather than designing a fuel cell to fit into the
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
platform, it was designing a platform around that fuel cell. And so when some people talk about this, when you start looking
at design space when it comes to electric ship, the Navy’s actually taking this viewpoint: We’re not going to say, “Here’s
your space for your power system, now figure out how it fits.” It needs to come from an approach of total ship design, to
determine what power system you may need to optimize. Then you can arrange that ship in a manner that allows you to
have sufficient power from the outset, and you may make some design changes to that ship, accommodations that allow
you to provide power to all of the modern and future weapon systems. That is one thing that’s nice about the electric
systems: It’s a break from what they used to call “the tyranny of the shaft.” That is, when you look at a mechanical drive, you
have to have a shaft that runs through the bottom of the ship to the propulsor. Well, when you go electric, you get rid of
that—so now you don’t have to worry about accounting for that shaft in the ship when you go with electric drive systems—
you just have that large motor, which can open up the design space for that ship.
12
So instead of fixing something post-design, get it right pre-design.
A: Pay attention to the power. There is a tendency, and a lot of people do this, to design a great platform with all
that capability built in, and then they say, “Now don’t forget to put the power system in.” So it’s better if we think
in terms of how to include those together. And, in fact, the Navy stood up an organization called Combat Power and
Energy Systems, which is bringing together the ship design people, the power architecture people, the weapons people,
even the acquisition community, the fiscal people, to work on this electric ship taking a fully integrated, holistic approach.
Speaking of people, on the personnel or people front, you have initiatives
and several ground-breaking programs supporting the development of
personnel as a key to future advances in power and energy and S&T.
Could you talk about some of those efforts?
A: Sure. The first one I’ll refer you to is ESTEP, which is the Energy System Technology Evaluation Program. This
started actually in fiscal year 2013. It’s a program that was focused on doing demonstrations on facilities. It was
something the secretary’s office wanted to have so that we could lead the way in technologies—renewable energy
technologies in particular, but overall energy technologies in general, to improve the energy capabilities at bases. How
do you make them more efficient, more secure, more capable on the shore side? And as we were putting this together,
we realized there was an opportunity here to approach it differently, instead of doing the normal, “Let’s contract this out
to one of our standard defense contractors”—who do a great job. But we sometimes miss the opportunity to educate
naval personnel or veterans. So we said, “Let’s do this differently and require that those doing the project are naval
personnel already on the bases.” So they get directly involved in the execution of that program and it becomes almost
like an in-house facilities demonstration program.
In addition, it turned out there was a local school at that time, San Diego State University, near one of our performers,
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command out in San Diego. They had a veteran internship program. So we were able
to say, “Hey, why don’t we provide you monies to pay for veteran interns to work on that [ESTEP] project?” And they
said, “Absolutely.” And so on each of the projects that we’ve done in our ESTEP program, we’ve had at least one veteran.
They’re student veterans, mainly at SDSU, but we are going to look at other schools as well. And those vets have gone
through already and in a couple of cases gotten jobs because of this, the establishment of training as an intern.
Would you also please speak about APTEP and Energy Excelerator?
A: We’ve had this program for a while—it has been congressionally supported—called the Asia-Pacific Technology
and Education Partnership. It funds everything from K-12 community outreach to university research and even a
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
program called Energy Excelerator, which is an organization run by a non-profit in Hawaii that funds companies to do
demonstrations of their energy technologies in the investment community/entrepreneurship type of world. Instead of
just funding the technology, it really focuses on making sure those companies get business training. So it’s a professional
development type of organization. All of these programs together are working to ensure we foster and support the
brightest minds bringing the most innovative technologies to the forefront for our Sailors and Marines in a technological
environment that has limitless possibilities.
13
 GENERATING UNDERSEA
POWER AT THE GLOBAL
ENERGY VILLAGE
It’s one thing to develop a new sensor or device in your lab. It’s
another to have it work in the field. But what happens when your
lab and field are both underwater and your device must seamlessly
integrate diverse technologies that are continuously evolving?
T
o address such development challenges,
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center
Pacific (SSC Pacific) and the Office of Naval
Research (ONR) plan to transform San Diego
Bay into an undersea test and modeling site for
autonomously controlled power sources, sensors,
and unmanned vehicles fitted with wireless power
and data devices.
Known as ONR Global Energy Village, this project
aims to develop undersea power systems and
control technologies within a small network of San
Diego Bay test sites.
The Global Energy Village
The Navy’s need for distributed, persistent undersea
surveillance requires a network of power-lean
command, control, communications, computers,
intelligence, and reconnaissance devices linked to
long-lasting energy sources and transfer vehicles or
stations. To foster integrated development of these
components in a realistic environment, Navy and
coalition researchers seek to collaborate through
an instrumented test site known as the ONR Global
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
Energy Village—a San Diego Bay science and
technology incubator for ONR-supported undersea
power, energy, and control technologies.
Led by SSC’s Research and Applied Sciences and
Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and
Information Operations departments, the ONR
Global Energy Village represents a field development
14
By Patric Petrie
and Wayne Liu
site for evaluating “tenant” energy nodes, sensors,
and vehicles located at SSC Pacific and various Navy
waterfronts along San Diego Bay—all in proximity
to fleet platforms, commands, and program
offices. Initial efforts will include energy mapping,
harvesting, and connectivity.
Energy Mapping
To identify San Diego Bay locations for renewably
driven energy stations, SSC Pacific intends to model
microbial fuel cell power potential as a function of
environmental conditions (waves, tidal currents, and
seafloor organic matter). This predictive model of
in-situ energy potential can help select locations for
“dock-in-a-box” vehicle charging stations. The vision
is to create a three-part approach to develop this
mapping capability, including data mining, modeling,
and field verification.
Data mining will compile relevant data sources that
provide the best prediction of energy harvesting
potential. This would include tidal elevations, current
speeds, wave heights, sediment characteristics, and
temperature distributions.
This data will be compiled in a geospatial data base
and contoured over areas of strategic interest, as
well as over designated test areas for subsequent
verification.
In the second phase, modeling algorithms will
yield a range of energy harvesting strategies.
These algorithms would draw from both theoretical
predications and empirical data. The modeling would
provide a basis for translating bay sediment conditions
into power estimates for various fuel cell methods.
In the final phase, field verification measurements
will be conducted at test sites. These would be
conducted by placing a limited range of actual
fuel cell harvesting devices within the test areas to
compare measured power production against the
predictions.
Energy Harvesting
Two initial approaches for undersea energy
harvesting will be considered for the Global Energy
Village: sedimentary microbial fuel cells and
nonlinear energy harvesters.
The former typically function by burying anodes
inches deep in the sediment to collect electrons
released by microbes as they break down and
consume trapped organic content. The electrons are
then routed through a circuit consisting of the anode
collector, a load (sensor or battery), and a seawater-
exposed cathode where the electrons are terminally
mated with dissolved oxygen molecules.
To develop a non-stationary platform that can charge
on and migrate from the sediment surface, scientists
have collaborated with mechanical engineers to
develop the Mudfish—an SSC Pacific invention that
performs microbial fuel cell energy harvesting within
a mobile undersea platform. The Mudfish recharges
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
itself by visiting the sediment floor, and it can be
scaled up into larger energy payloads for “dock-in-a-
box” stations within the Global Energy Village.
The integrated nonlinear energy harvester represents Mapping of sediment characteristics
a second harvesting approach that scavenges energy in San Diego Bay. Photos courtesy of
SSC Pacific.
from ambient low-frequency seismic vibrations—
eliminating the need for batteries and reducing size,
weight, and cost.
15
 GLOBAL ENERGY VILLAGE
SSC Pacific is developing a microelectromechanical-
system-scale magnetometer using a new class
of nonlinear functional materials as the active
core material in the sensor. Still in its infancy, this
magnetometer’s power would be supplied by an
integrated nonlinear energy harvester that would
scavenge energy from ambient low-frequency seismic
vibrations, so no batteries would be needed, reducing
size, weight, and cost while simplifying logistics.
ONR Global Energy Village will serve as a science and technology incubator for undersea power systems and control
technologies in the evironmentally relevant San Diego Bay, with proximity to fleet commands, vessels, and program officers.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
16
The energy harvester is underpinned by a vibrating
piezoelectric cantilever with a magnet at the tip;
it is opposed by another micromagnet that repels
the tip-magnet so that, within a critical separation
of the magnets, the cantilever’s movement is
nonlinear. Experiments have shown that the nonlinear
configuration is far better suited to scavenging
energy from low-frequency vibrations, which are
usually embedded in low-frequency noise, the type
frequently encountered in seismic vibrational settings.
The sensors are expected to have a magnetic field
resolution of five to 20 picotesla and last more
than five years. The entire package is expected to
be silver-dollar size or smaller and cost under $50.
The sensors could be deployed anywhere and left
unattended for a long time. The sensors would
have radio frequency communications and GPS
capability, if needed.
This project is the team’s most ambitious; it
involves an expert in magnetic nanostructures, as
well as collaborative partners at the University of
California, Berkeley; University of Catania (Italy);
University of Perugia (Italy); University of California,
Los Angeles; and the Indian Institute of Technology
(Mumbai, India). In addition, Albuquerque-based
Radiant Technology is tied to this effort through a
cooperative research and development agreement.
The work has been funded by SSC Pacific’s Naval
Innovative Science and Engineering program and
ONR. In addition, the energy harvester development
was funded by ONR and the Coalition Warfare
Program; the latter funding is underpinned by a
project agreement between SSC Pacific and the
Italian Ministry of Defence.
An interesting side project to the energy harvester
work is the development of a macro (centimeter-
scale) energy harvester device for scavenging
ambient vibrations. This device uses printed
electronic technology, specifically a vibrating
flexible clamped beam incorporating piezoelectric
actuators that are deposited through inkjet printing
techniques. At the moment, a laboratory prototype
device the size of a cigarette package can generate
power to operate a wireless sensor node located
approximately 20 yards away.
Energy Connectivity
To replenish the energy stores of nodes throughout
the ONR Global Energy Village network, remotely or
autonomously driven unmanned vehicles will serve
as undersea fuel tankers to inductively (wirelessly)
charge each node.
A multidisciplinary SSC Pacific engineering team
developed this strategic capability for inductive
undersea energy charging. This capability was
demonstrated during an SSC Pacific pierside test
in July 2014 and will increase the endurance of
remote platforms with reduced reliance on manned
support missions.
This wireless power capability will drive Energy
Village projects in autonomously controlled
connectors and wireless power and data devices for
vehicles and sensors.
The Way Ahead
Fiscal year 2015 ONR Global Energy Village projects
will demonstrate San Diego Bay microbial fuel cell
and wireless charging systems. During 2016, the
emphasis will shift toward renewable energy-driven
remote monitoring and control of Global Energy
Village assets (to be proposed to ONR’s energy
systems and technology evaluation program).
Participation in future Rim of the Pacific fleet
exercises is planned.
About the authors:
Patric Petrie is the lead staff writer for Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.
Wayne Liu is a mechanical engineer at Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific where he
develops and demonstrates concepts in sustainable
undersea energy networks. His Naval Research
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
Enterprise experience includes fleet testing
onboard surface and undersea combatant vessels
and laboratory testing in fluid mechanics.
An earlier version of this article appeared in the
February 2015 issue of the SSC Pacific News
Bulletin.
17

MAKING
PULSED
POWER
COMPACT
FOR MISSION
LOADS
By Brett M. Huhman, Corey T. Love, and Jeffrey W. Long
The Naval Research Laboratory Materials Testing Facility’s electromagnetic railgun fires a shot. The pulse forming network
can be seen in the foreground, with the mission load (railgun) in the background. Getting pulsed systems smaller and
more efficient is a major prerequisite for getting operational railguns aboard ships.
P
ulsed power is the science of storing energy over
a relatively long period of time and releasing it
very quickly, increasing the effective power many
times over the original source. This technology has been
used for radar since World War II, but the full potential
of pulsed power has been limited mostly to laboratory
research in directed-energy applications such as lasers,
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
electromagnetic railguns, and high-power microwaves.
Starting with USS Ponce (AFSB[I] 15), the Navy is on the
path to deploy significant pulsed power installations
across the fleet to drive the next generation of mission
loads, which are defined as electrical loads on ships that
draw power from central power plants and are devoted
to a specific task. While the basic concept is quite well
understood, applying this to a mobile platform at sea under
varying environmental conditions is quite challenging. The
US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has a multidisciplinary
effort under way to push the boundaries of science and
18
Intermediate Storage System
A weapon system such as a railgun will need potentially as
much as 80 megajoules of energy stored per shot, which
is the energy equivalent to nearly 20 kilograms of TNT.
When one considers that the mission profile for such a
weapon is multishot, more than a billion joules of energy
is required to expend the magazine, which is comparable
to more than a kiloton of TNT. To put it in more practical
terms, every few seconds more than 20 megawatts of
electricity needs to be extracted from the ship to fire a
railgun. Power generators on a ship do not react well
to sudden, significant electrical loads for a few seconds
followed by a brief low-load period. Therefore, an
intermediate storage system is necessary to both protect
the prime mover on the ship and provide instantaneous
Photos courtesy of the Naval Research Laboratory
response to a “call for fire” from a mission load.
The essential concept of an intermediate storage system
is that it serves as a buffer between the slow power source
that charges in hours, such as the gas-turbine generator
on a ship, and the capacitor bank, which charges in
seconds and discharges in milliseconds. Gas-turbine
generators are excellent at providing large amounts of
power when needed but are terrible at fuel efficiency. A
generator running at half load consumes nearly as much
fuel as a generator at full load. With the Navy studying
the feasibility of single generator operations (a projected
fuel savings in the excess of $1 million per year per ship),
such a system would push the limits of maintaining the
power levels of a weapon system in standby. The use of
an electrochemical storage system, such as a lithium-
ion battery, would be the ideal solution. Batteries prefer
to be charged slowly over a long period of time but can
release the energy into a capacitor very quickly without
technology research necessary to support the initial
compromising any other systems on board a ship.
deployment and future incarnations of railgun, laser, and
other energy-demanding programs. The Office of Naval Research has awarded a contract to
K2 Energy Solutions to develop an energy storage system
With the advent of all-electric ships, especially the
for just this purpose with delivery of the first modules by
Zumwalt (DDG 1000)-class destroyer, energy on a ship is
the end of 2015. NRL is investigating technologies and
suddenly available in large amounts for directed-energy
methodologies to maintain the safety, efficiency, and
mission loads and ever-more-advanced radars. A Zumwalt
lifetime at high performance levels on these new devices.
has a distinct advantage over an Arleigh Burke (DDG
Commercial battery systems are designed to operate at
51)-class destroyer in its power plant, with a total of 78
much lower power levels, as it is highly desirable to have a
megawatts of power at maximum load in the former versus
cellular telephone operate for days; in contrast, the Navy
the 7.5 megawatts available from the latter’s LM2500 gas-
needs the energy released over several minutes.
turbine generators. The Zumwalt’s $3.8-billion price tag,
however, is likely to keep existing ships such as the Arleigh Making Lithium Batteries Safer
Burke class the likely target platform for directed-energy
upgrades for some time to come. Energy management, While lithium-based chemistries are the most popular
both thermal and electrical, will be the key factors in the secondary battery designs in the world, they can be
application of new technologies. prone to adverse events such as cell venting (toxic
gases), overheating (fire), and dendrite growth (failure,
and, if not managed properly, fire). Newer variants, such
as the lithium iron phosphate cathode chemistry used
by K2 Energy, are able to limit but not eliminate risks. In
response to safety concerns surrounding the integration
of lithium-ion batteries within the fleet, the Alternative
Energy Section in NRL’s Chemistry Division is actively
researching the three battery failure mechanisms. If
the start condition (baseline performance) is properly
understood, scientists can develop mitigation procedures
to avoid destructive conditions and maintain safe
operation for both recharging and discharging these
cells. The Navy needs the battery systems to be ready
at all times and available for immediate use. In addition,
the cells need to maintain peak performance for a
sufficient number of recharge/discharge cycles to make
them economically viable. Understanding what causes
premature cell death is essential to reducing the total cost
of ownership of battery-based mission loads.
During recharging, the battery anode is prone to
forming lithium metal “dendrites,” or spears, which can
form a short circuit to the battery cathode, initiating a
catastrophic thermal runaway reaction and, ultimately,
a fire. NRL has observed that the temperature most
conducive to short circuits is at 5 degrees Celsius, where
rapid dendrite formation is most likely to take place and
cause internal short circuits. This experimental capability
now can be used to study the impact of chemical
additives in preventing dendrite formation and can guide
naval designs to maintain safe operating envelopes for
batteries under charge.
Lithium batteries require active management and
monitoring. If the battery management system
malfunctions and allows the battery to be overcharged or
the temperature in the cells to rise beyond a certain point,
it can cause the loss of oxygen gas from the metal-oxide
battery cathodes. NRL has developed a computational
method to screen new battery materials for such
instability toward O2 release.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
A third failure mechanism identified in lithium batteries
is related to cell overcharge, which is normally avoided
by a properly designed battery management system.
Forcing a battery to charge rapidly can cause the voltage
of individual cells in a pack to “float” higher than their
neighbors. If the excess voltage is not drained using a
balancing resistor, the cell could be damaged. A newly
developed diagnostic tool detects in real time if a cell
has suffered damage because of overcharge by using
impedance spectroscopy to specifically probe and track a
cell’s state of health.
19
 PULSED POWER
Based on this method, a simple electronic device is now
being developed to monitor changes within a battery
management system that requires minimal analysis. Any
irregularities in the impedance behavior can be detected
in the early stages of cell damage, so batteries may be
taken offline prior to becoming highly damaged, unstable,
and dangerous. These useful diagnostics easily can be
implemented into new Navy systems or retrofitted into
existing installations and will ensure safe and efficient
operation of lithium-based battery packs under high-
performance conditions.
Moving Beyond Lithium
Because of the significant risk of failure, removing lithium-
based batteries from future Navy activities is highly desired.
With this in mind, the Surface Chemistry Branch at NRL
has developed new materials for zinc-based batteries that
promise to meet or exceed the energy density of lithium-
ion batteries. Traditionally, zinc has fallen short in battery
performance because of the very limited rechargeability
and modest capacity (typically less than 60 percent of
theoretical maximum) of the zinc electrode. NRL has
designed and fabricated 3-D zinc “sponge” anodes that
are monolithic and comprise interpenetrating networks
of solid and void. The sponge electrode—now wired in
3-D—enables low cell resistances through the discharge
process and access to greater than 90 percent of the
zinc theoretical capacity. The 3-D structure also ensures
electrochemical recharge with more than 99-percent
capacity retention. NRL has demonstrated stable cycling
to capacities that translate to 100 watt-hours per kilogram
in a fully packaged nickel-zinc battery—an energy density
far superior to lead-acid—and begins to approach that
of lithium-ion batteries but with the safety advantages of
using nonflammable aqueous electrolytes.
A complementary energy-storage approach being
developed by the NRL’s Surface Chemistry Branch is based
on a new type of electrochemical capacitor that also uses
aqueous electrolytes. This low-cost, safe-to-operate, and
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
environmentally benign replacement for pulsed-power
batteries has the potential to exceed the energy density
(smaller size) and power density (more energy released
at once) of existing supercapacitors. NRL has developed
a scalable method of generating conformal coatings of
ultrathin (less than 20 nanometers thick) metal oxides on
the high-surface-area walls of carbon nanofoam papers.
The resulting ultrathin oxides of manganese or iron
rapidly take up and release electrons and ions, thereby
storing/delivering energy at 300-600 Farads per gram of
20
A research engineer installs a pulsed power battery pack at NRL.
The Pulsed Power Physics Branch is developing a scaled facility
to evaluate battery-based pulsed power systems. The battery
packs will charge the capacitor over several seconds, which
when triggered will release 60 kilojoules of stored energy into the
inductor and resistive load in milliseconds.
oxide. In comparison, the typical value for commercial
carbon-carbon supercapacitors is less than 150 Farads
per gram of oxide. The high surface-to-volume ratio of
NRL’s electrode designs enables capacitances addressable
within a few seconds while retaining the energy for much
longer periods of time than a pulsed-power capacitor is
currently capable of providing. With this technology, the
care and feeding of a complete pulsed power system
for a shipboard railgun would be reduced substantially
by merging the battery and capacitor arrays into a
single system. Successful implementation would reduce
operation and maintenance costs, improve reliability, and
maintain the Navy’s commitment to cleaner seas.
Holistic Thermal Management is Necessary
A pulsed power system is only useful if it can charge and
discharge rapidly and repeat many times per minute. Each
cycle generates a finite amount of heat energy, which
must be removed from the system to enable proper
function. Batteries, especially when used under high-
power conditions, will generate a substantial amount of
heat that must be removed to maintain both safe operating
conditions and sufficient lifetime to remain economical
for shipboard applications. This is only the beginning,
however, of the thermal management challenge. The
directed energy and railgun technologies identified as
potential new platforms will generate a sizeable amount
of waste heat. Existing shipboard cooling systems are not
designed for the magnitude of heat load that is likely to
result, which will force the Navy either to perform a very
expensive refit or use ocean water as a thermal sink. If the
heat energy cannot be removed from the system efficiently,
however, no amount of cooling water will enable sustained
operations of a next-generation weapon system.
NRL is developing solutions to address these thermal
challenges. Each component on a pulsed-power system
will generate heat, from the direct current (DC)-DC
converter (used to charge a capacitor to high voltage), to
the capacitor, high-current switches, inductor, and even
the cables that transfer power to the mission load itself.
NRL’s Pulsed Power Physics Branch is building a complete
pulsed-power simulator, from the batteries used for the
Office of Naval Research railgun program to custom
DC-DC converters and a pulse-forming network. A set
of four 60-kilojoule capacitor banks will be connected
to repetitively charge and dump into a resistive load 10
times a minute to evaluate the heat generated by all of the
system components. Each element will need active cooling
to maintain proper operation and prevent premature
component death, as the amount of current flowing
through each later stage is around 100,000 amps.
To cool the battery packs, a four-pass aluminum cold
plate is used to move water past all of the cells in each
battery set. Without the cold plate, a thermal limit is
reached after only 32 shots; with the cold plate installed
all 50 shots are fired with a net temperature rise of only
15 degrees Celsius across the battery pack. The next
stage in the system, the DC-DC converter, was outfitted
with an experimental oscillating heat pipe (OHP) design.
The OHP has a working fluid that evaporates, cools, and
repeats many hundreds of times per second. This has
the effect of a thermal conductivity many times that of
pure copper. With this system, NRL has demonstrated a
steady-state condition with a 20-kilowatt converter with
the OHP installed. For comparison, a commercial cold
plate was shown to continuously increase in temperature
over the same five-minute test period. The use of the OHP
in a DC-DC converter for a pulsed-power system would
enable constant energy flow without the need of additional
cooling facilities aboard a ship at sea. Future work is
needed to apply this technology to the remainder of the
system.
Remaining Challenges
NRL has established a number of basic and applied
research benchmarks for the deployment of safe, reliable
power sources for the Navy at large. The work performed
on lithium battery safety is directly applicable to both
the current and future Navy, as lithium-based cells will
remain in service for some time. Scaling is perhaps the
largest challenge, as even the application-based testing
by the Pulsed Power Physics Branch at NRL is limited in
scope, allowing for maximum understanding of basic
principles. While very promising, the successful transfer
and commercialization of technologies such as the zinc-air
cell and the electrochemical capacitor remains a significant
milestone in the future. Further investment into these areas
will bear fruit in the long term, ensuring the continuing
superiority of the US Navy and fellow services.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
About the authors:
Brett Huhman works in the Naval Research Laboratory’s
Plasma Physics Division.
Corey Love and Jeffrey Long work in Naval Research
Laboratory’s Chemistry Division.
21

A
dvances in laser and photovoltaic converter
technologies may allow high-power wireless
recharging of platforms and sensors at extended
ranges. These remote platforms may include flying, land-
based, or submerged vehicles, satellites, and sensors at
hazardous locations. Commercially available fiber lasers
have proven to be an enabling technology in a variety
of industrial applications such as cutting, welding, and
annealing. These lasers also are having a positive effect
in many defense programs—for instance, the Navy’s laser
weapon system has recently deployed aboard USS Ponce
(AFSB[I] 15) for at-sea testing. In addition, commercially
available photovoltaic converters have advanced to a
point where high conversion efficiency from laser energy
to electrical energy is now possible.
In the 1890s, Nikola Tesla performed some of the first
experiments demonstrating wireless recharging—
sometimes called power beaming—using high-frequency
electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves have been used
since in short-range wireless recharging experiments
because of their high power-conversion efficiency. For
long-range recharging, however, large transmission and
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
receiving antennae are required because of the longer
wavelengths associated with microwave radiation.
Practical long-range recharging only can be achieved
using the significantly shorter wavelengths associated
22
with laser beams. The use of lasers can significantly
reduce the size and weight of the transmitting and
receiving platforms.
Research groups at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Kinki University in Japan, LaserMotive Inc.,
and the Naval Research Laboratory have experimented
with wireless recharging using a variety of platforms such
as rovers, kite planes, helicopters, and climbers using
solid-state lasers and photovoltaic converters.
One configuration for remote wireless recharging of an
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) involves using a high-
power, continuous wave fiber laser and beam director.
Disturbances in the atmosphere (i.e., turbulence and
aerosols) will affect the laser’s power propagation and
delivery to the platform and may require adaptive optics
for correction.
High-Power Laser Wireless Recharging
Wireless recharging using high-power lasers has
been realized because of the improved output power,
efficiency, and reliability of commercially available high-
power lasers, power-conversion efficiencies as high as 60
percent in photovoltaic converters, and multikilometer
propagation of lasers in the atmosphere. Laser recharging
can be used to power UAVs, resulting in increased
flight duration, reduced battery weight and manpower
requirements, and increased power capabilities of vehicles
and payloads. Wireless recharging also can be used to
provide electrical power to small UAVs for missions such
as persistent surveillance and security, communications
relay, off-board decoys, electronic warfare, target
acquisition, and reconnaissance of remote or hazardous
areas such as forward operating bases.
High-power fiber lasers now are commercially available
for directed-energy applications. These lasers are made
with active optical fibers and semiconductor diodes,
a merger between two of the most innovative and
advanced laser technologies. Fiber lasers use single-
emitter semiconductor diodes as the light source to
pump the active fibers. The beam emitted is contained
within optical fibers and delivered through an armored
flexible cable. Special optical fibers doped with rare earth
ions permit kilowatt levels of high-quality laser power
to be generated. These fiber lasers are compact, have
long diode lifetimes, low maintenance operation, high
wall-plug efficiency, and minimum beam divergence. For
example, ytterbium-doped fiber lasers are commercially
available with wall-plug efficiencies up to 50 percent.
The state-of-the-art power levels for these lasers are 10
kilowatts continuous wave for single-mode operation and
100 kilowatts for multimode operation.
Naval Research Laboratory scientists hold the first
The Naval Research Laboratory demonstrates laser
patent on the laser-beam-combining architecture used
by the Navy (“Apparatus for Incoherent Combining of
recharging at a range of 40 meters. The laser beam is
shown by the red arrow propagating from the lower-
High-Power Lasers for Long-Range Directed Energy
right corner to the target, a twin propeller aerial vehicle
Applications,” U.S. Patent No. US 7,970,040 [2011]) and
with a laser converter in front. The vehicle under
were the first to demonstrate high-power continuous illumination is shown in the upper right inset where the
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
wave (greater than four kilowatts), single-mode, fiber converter appears violet and white. Photos courtesy of
laser beam propagation in the atmosphere over extended Naval Research Laboratory.
distances (greater than three kilometers). These high-
23
 RECHARGE REMOTELY
At right is a twin-propeller aerial vehicle with a laser converter mounted
in the middle. The photovoltaic cells convert laser power to electrical
power at high efficiency to power the two propellers. The laser converter
is cooled by the downdraft created by the propellers.
power fiber lasers are particularly well suited for remote
wireless recharging.
Most photovoltaic cells are designed and developed
for the conversion of the broad spectrum of solar
energy into electrical power. The cell delivers the
maximum optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency
when illuminated by monochromatic (laser) light at
a wavelength that closely corresponds to the band-
gap energy of the photovoltaic material. Efficient
cells based on indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) are
now available commercially for wavelengths near one
micron. An optimized photovoltaic converter on a
remote platform, such as a UAV, can efficiently convert
(about 50—60 percent) laser energy to electrical
power. A wireless recharging architecture using fiber
lasers and photovoltaic cells can provide a significant
weight reduction by removal of batteries, extended
flight duration, and increased range.
Wireless Recharging Experiments
The Naval Research Laboratory has successfully
demonstrated the recharging of a UAV in flight using
a kilowatt-class fiber laser to transmit power and a
photovoltaic cell for collection. The photo above
shows a panel of highly efficient InGaAs cells on a laser
converter panel. When illuminated with a high-power
fiber laser, it converts the laser power to the electrical
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
power required to power the twin propellers. The cells
are connected in a configuration that matches the
current and voltage characteristics required to drive the
propellers. The converter has fins on its back to allow
cooling by the downdraft of the propellers.
24
In 2013, a series of flight tests were conducted over
a 40-meter laboratory range. A two-kilowatt, single-
mode fiber laser (about one micron wavelength)
transmitted power to an array fabricated using InGaAs
laser-power converter chips from Spectrolab Inc.
The individual chips are up to 50 percent efficient at
the fiber laser wavelength, and the lightweight array
provides 160-190 watts of electricity to the vehicle.
Off-the-shelf components were used to develop the
optical tracking system, which automatically positioned
the laser beam on the center of the laser converter
during flight. In the experiment, the remotely controlled
vehicle was able to lift off from rest on command.
The laser converter lights up (in the inset on page 23)
because the laser light, though in the infrared, is visible
to the digital camera.
Technological Challenges
There are a number of challenges to address before
long-range wireless recharging can be deployed.
These include thermally managing the excess
heat generated on the photo-voltaic converter
and developing higher-efficiency cells capable of
more than 60 percent conversion. It is necessary to
have a fairly uniform and controlled laser intensity
profile on the photo converter. This may require
the development of appropriate adaptive optics
techniques applied to the outgoing laser beam.
For extended ranges, application of adaptive optics
is necessary to control spreading and wandering of
the transmitted laser beam as it propagates through
atmospheric turbulence. Adapted optics can be
implemented by employing a beacon of laser power can be delivered to the satellite at the
laser beam (low power) on the receiving perigee point (the lowest height position, about 100
platform to determine the phase kilometers) of the elliptical orbit. The laser intensity
variations placed on the beam because on the satellite’s photovoltaic cells can be several
of atmospheric turbulence. Introducing the conjugated hundreds of kilowatts per square meter, which is
phase variation on the high-power outgoing beam hundreds of times the sun’s intensity.
will minimize the effects of atmospheric turbulence.
Development of efficient, high-power, eye-safer lasers
and photovoltaic converters at wavelengths greater than
1.4 microns may be necessary for certain applications.
These challenges are of a technological nature, however,
About the authors:
and can be overcome in the near term.
Dr. Fischer is senior research engineer in the
Future Directions
Plasma Physics Division at the Naval Research
Wireless recharging can be an enabling technology Laboratory.
that would allow new operational capabilities for the
Dr. Ting is section head and experimental group
Navy. In addition to UAVs, other unmanned systems
leader in the Plasma Physics Division at the Naval
stand to benefit from this technology. These include
Research Laboratory.
ground vehicles and underwater vehicles. Atmospheric
conditions for land-based vehicles, however, are Dr. Sprangle is senior scientist for directed energy
quite different from those for UAV recharging. This physics in the Plasma Physics Division at the Naval
is because of the high concentration of scattering Research Laboratory and professor of electrical and
particles and increased computer engineering and physics at the University
turbulence affecting of Maryland.
laser propagation near
The authors would like to acknowledge that funding
the ground. Underwater
for this work was provided by the Naval Research
remote wireless
Laboratory, and acknowledge the contributions
recharging requires
from Greg DiComo and Steve Tayman.
laser wavelengths in the
blue-green regime.
Wireless recharging
of low flying satellites
also could be viable to
maintain their orbits.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
Atmospheric turbulence
and scattering fall off
extremely rapidly as
a function of altitude.
Hundreds of kilowatts
25

By Patric Petrie
T
he Navy has committed to the deployment of
a “Great Green Fleet” by 2016, a carrier strike
group fueled by alternative sources of energy
such as new-generation biofuels.
Biofuels are drop-in replacements for petroleum-
based fuels such as JP-5, used in aircraft, and F-76,
used in ships. These biofuels are derived from lipid-
rich plants or algae, which are highly renewable
energy sources that produce lower greenhouse
gas emissions than typical Navy fuel sources and
consume carbon dioxide as they grow.
By seeking alternative and renewable fuel sources,
the Navy can reduce its dependence on foreign oil
while furthering its environmental stewardship, a key
element of the Navy’s Energy Vision.
Two biofuels currently being tested by Naval
Air Systems Command as blends with existing
petroleum-based fuels include HRJ-5, a jet fuel
made from camelina plants, and HRD-76, a ship
USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187) refuels USS Princeton
(CG 59) during the Great Green Fleet demonstration in
2012. Photo by MC3 Andrew M. Jandick.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
26
diesel made from marine algae. Although these fuels
have passed recent fit-for-purpose tests in Navy
aircraft and ships, their fate and effects in the marine
environment remain unknown.
Prototype energy-efficient technologies have been
designed to enhance the combat capability of Navy
warships. These include solid-state lighting, which
is more efficient and lasts longer than incandescent
or fluorescent fixtures; stern flaps designed to help
reduce hull resistance when under way; a shipboard
energy dashboard that displays energy usage to the
operators in real time and informs energy efficient
decisions; and gas-turbine online water wash that
improves engine efficiency. Similarly, new ship fuels
must meet performance specifications, as well as
environmental compliance requirements, both of
which are essential to operational readiness.
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
(SPAWAR) scientists are currently assessing the
potential ecological risks of these new-generation
fuels in the event of fuel spills during storage or
transport. Ensuring that the Navy adopts alternative
fuels that are no more hazardous in the underwater
environment than current petroleum-based fuels will
reduce the potential for fines associated with
spills and the need for costly assessment and
cleanup actions.
Assessing the Ecological Risk
Over the past year, SPAWAR scientists have
completed preliminary laboratory studies
that investigated the toxicity and chemical
characterization of new-generation fuels
compared to traditional petroleum-based fuels in
marine environments.
Initial range-finding tests evaluated acute toxicity
(mortality in short-term exposures of four days)
for juvenile mysid shrimp and topsmelt (a small
Pacific fish) larvae and chronic/sublethal toxicity
(exposures of two to four days) for sea urchins
and mussel embryos.
To assess toxic effects, marine organisms were
exposed to seawater saturated with water-
soluble fuel extracts from alternative renewable
or traditional petroleum-based fuels.
Results displayed rapid mortality of mysid shrimp
and topsmelt in petroleum-based fuels, while
no mortality was observed in alternative fuel
samples. Similar responses were observed with
embryonic urchins and mussels.
These results suggest that alternative fuels
are far less toxic than their petroleum-based
counterparts. Differences in toxicity are most
likely driven by much higher concentrations
of toxic compounds such as volatile organic
carbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in
petroleum-based fuels.
Looking Ahead
Future studies will more definitively determine
toxicity concentrations with complementary
chemical analyses.
In addition,
SPAWAR scientists
will be working
on identifying
and developing
of data for key
parameters for fate and effects modeling, such
as biodegradation, photodegradation, and
oceanographic mixing rates of alternative fuels.
Determination of the chemical components
of alternative renewable and petroleum-based
fuels will provide guidance for forthcoming
management and certification decisions in
selecting less toxic fuels with similar performance
specifications.
About the author:
Patric Petrie is the lead staff writer for Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
27
 Some of the energy technology solutions currently being Naval Energy Strategy
developed include:
Signed by Secretary of the Navy
• Data Center Smart Metering Evaluation: SSC Pacific is currently Ray Mabus in October 2009, the
evaluating technical approaches to smart metering for data Naval Energy Strategy focuses on

What’s the
centers. A smart meter is an electrical meter that enables two- holistic energy values centered
way communication between the meter and the central system. on energy security, energy
It records consumption of electrical energy in intervals and efficiency, and environmental

Mission of the
communicates that information back to the utility company for stewardship.
monitoring and billing.
Energy Security: Energy

Naval Enterprise
• Energy Focused Fused Information System-Integration: SSC security is critical to success.
Pacific is investing how to develop the methods and expertise We will safeguard our energy
required to optimize energy for SPAWAR information technology infrastructure and shield

Energy Team? systems. The goal is to create a capability to monitor, manage,

fuse, and optimize energy for enhanced efficiency, security, and
performance of C4I/IT systems.
ourselves from a volatile fuel
supply.

By Elisha Gamboa
S
pace and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s (SPAWAR)
naval enterprise energy team supports the development of
strategic energy planning and project execution for Navy
Enterprise Data Center (NEDC) and data center consolidation
tasks.
SPAWAR manages and operates the NEDC, located at SPAWAR
sites in San Diego, Charleston, New Orleans, and Millington.
The NEDC is conducting a federal data center consolidation
effort to combine legacy data centers by virtualizing and hosting
them in the NEDC. The consolidation effort will increase data
demands at SPAWAR data centers and the incurred need for
effective energy solutions to handle demand signals.
The Navy enterprise energy team is a diverse, multidisciplinary
workforce with expertise that addresses a range of energy
and security challenges within the command, control,
communications, computers, and intelligence/information
technology domain.
SPAWAR’s research is conducted around answering the question:
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
• Data Center Cooling Distribution
Efficiency: SSC Pacific is assessing this
“Energy is a critical resource
that enables performance,
program and has identified multiple
opportunities for energy-efficiency
improvements in data centers. drives total life-cycle cost,
Technologies identified either are is paramount to system
commercially available or soon will be
available to further improve the energy reliability, and has far-
efficiency of cooling infrastructure
systems.
reaching environmental and
national security impacts,”
• Data Center Consolidation Sustainment and
Energy: To address the outstanding costs said Wotawa-Bergen.
and extensive use of energy, the NEDC
is currently conducting the Federal Data
Center Consolidation Initiative. The consolidation effort involves Energy Efficiency: Energy
transitioning up to 60 legacy data centers into four NEDCs efficiency increases combat
owned and managed by SPAWAR in San Diego, California; New effectiveness. We will expand
Orleans, Louisiana; Charleston, South Carolina; and Millington, our tactical reach and minimize
Tennessee. operational risks, saving time,
money, and lives.
“Energy is a critical resource that enables performance, drives total
lifecycle cost, is paramount to system reliability, and has far-reaching Sustainability: Environmental
environmental and national security impacts,” said Wotawa-Bergen. stewardship is our responsibility.

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

How do you tie in renewable energy and energy efficiency when
We will reduce the environmental
you have such critical systems that need to be powered? SPAWAR’s naval enterprise energy team will continue to plan, design, and impacts of our energy use,
coordinate a strategic energy approach to NEDC and consolidation tasks, lead in reducing greenhouse
The team develops near- and long-term data center energy
ensuring reliability, reducing costs, and promoting Department of Defense gas emissions, and promote
technology solutions using basic and applied research,
energy independence and security objectives. sustainability.
evaluation, demonstration, smart metering, information
technology and virtualization efficiency, and cyber security.

About the author:

Elisha Gamboa is a Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific

staff writer and technical editor.
28 29

By Eric Dow, Maria Medeiros, and Michele Anderson
U
nmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) will transform
the Navy’s future operations by extending the
area and volume that can be sensed, influenced,
and affected through power projection. The proliferation
of UUVs in quantity throughout the force structure will
significantly amplify capacity and enable these vehicles
to inherit missions that currently are too dangerous or
beyond the capability of manned platforms. UUVs can
investigate vast areas of ocean or conduct surveillance of
remote undersea locations that are too shallow, difficult,
or hostile for traditional platforms to investigate. These
craft will be fully autonomous, without a “human in the
loop,” and they will not have any cables or tethers to
provide remote control, navigation, or “power down
the wire” from a host ship or platform. Future UUVs will
have to carry or harvest all the fuel required to power
the vehicle’s propulsion, payloads, sensors, and onboard
computers while maintaining continuous, unassisted, fully
submerged, and very quiet operation.
This is an enormous challenge when you consider that
future UUVs will need to operate continuously for more
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
than 60 days without refueling; by comparison, using
today’s best batteries, such vehicles only would be able
to operate for fewer than five days before requiring a
recharge. In addition, the engines or motors used to push
the vehicles through the water will need to be upward of
three times more efficient than today’s best automobile
engines, all while being much more reliable. Imagine
being able to run your car’s engine for 1,500 hours of
continuous driving, or about 60,000 miles, without ever
needing an oil change or routine maintenance.
30
To solve these difficult problems, the Office of Naval
Research (ONR) in 2011 released two broad agency
announcements to industry. The first was the Large
Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV)
Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) Energy program. It
addressed the challenge for an LDUUV that will require
an energy source capable of upward of 1.8 megawatt
hours of electrical energy in a 3.454-liter volume.
The second announcement addressed the challenge
for a much smaller 21-inch-diameter UUV, the Long
Endurance Undersea Vehicle Propulsion (LEUVP) Future
Naval Capability (FNC) program, which required an
energy source capable of upward of 68 kilowatt hours
of energy in a 132-liter volume. Both of these programs
will demonstrate a scalable, air-independent power
source with improved energy density (three to five times
that of silver oxide-zinc batteries), quick recharge or
refueling, and operation at an acceptable cost through an
integrated, full-scale, land-based test in a UUV energy hull
section.
The technology solutions considered to address these
challenges focus on fuel cells, including solid oxide fuel
cells (SOFC) and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM)
cells. Fuel cells and hybridized approaches with batteries
and/or capacitors have the potential to meet both the
near-term and far-term UUV energy requirements—which
will be in excess of 500 Wh/l (energy density) and 500
Wh/kg (specific energy), including the necessary fuel and
oxidizer sources, all while being inherently safe so that
they will not impose undue hazards to personnel during
handling and storage.
Each of these next-generation UUV power systems will
have inherent advantages and disadvantages, making
some more or less attractive than others. For example,
SOFCs and PEMs are the most efficient power converters.
The PEMs operate at relatively low temperatures (80
to 100 Celsius) and require very high purity hydrogen,
while SOFCs must operate at very high temperatures
(greater than 700 Celsius), allowing them to achieve
higher efficiency than PEMs while being more tolerant
toward impurities in the hydrogen fuel. For the PEM fuel
cell system, sufficient amounts of high-purity hydrogen
aboard the UUV requires high-pressure gaseous hydrogen
(greater than 5000 psi), very low-temperature liquid
hydrogen (-253 Celsius), or other sources of pure
hydrogen (such as metal hydrides or chemical hydrides,
which typically require cylindrical flasks and result in
overall packing inefficiency).
These craft will be fully
autonomous, without a “human in
the loop,” and they will not have
any cables or tethers to provide
remote control, navigation or
“power down the wire” from a
host ship or platform.
For SOFCs, in comparison, the hydrogen gas could be
derived from common liquid hydrocarbons, such as
jet fuel, which can be stored very easily and efficiently
at room temperature and pressure. The challenge for
SOFCs is extracting the hydrogen from the liquid fuel
through a more complex reforming or “cracking” process.
Compared to the SOFC and PEM fuel cells, lower-
efficiency thermal combustors and Stirling engines can
use the liquid hydrocarbons directly without reformation
and burn the fuels to generate heat for a turbine or
piston-engine thermodynamic cycle. For this approach
to be successful, trading off the efficient storage of liquid
fuels against the higher combustion temperatures (more
than 1,500 Celsius using pure oxygen) and lower system
efficiencies are being studied. Regardless of whether the
eventual solution is SOFC, PEM, Stirling, liquid fuel, or
chemical hydride, the systems likely will use pure oxygen,
as air is not an option. This puts a very challenging spin
on the UUV energy system development, since the bulk of
the US industrial power and energy sector is focused on
air-breathing technologies for which their current systems
are largely incompatible with a pure oxygen environment.
LDUUV INP Energy System
This INP will demonstrate Technology Readiness Level
(TRL) 6 scalable, air-independent technologies for a
48-inch-by-48 inch cross-section UUV. It will use an
integrated, full-scale, land-based test in a 120-inch-
long UUV energy section that will demonstrate upwards
of 37 kilowatts for durations of 70 days, several start/
stop cycles, and refuelability without disassembly from
the vehicle. The goal is a roughly 1,000-Wh/L energy
system ready for transition to the LDUUV for subsequent
integration and in-water testing in fiscal year 2018 and
as a spiral technology insertion to the future PMS 406
LDUUV program of record acquisition efforts.
LEUVP FNC Energy System
This FNC will demonstrate TRL 6 scalable, air-independent
technologies for a 21-inch diameter UUV through an
integrated full-scale, land-based test in a UUV energy
section to demonstrate 1.5 kilowatts at 7-10 W/l nominal
power density, at least 30 hours duration, several start/
stop cycles, and refuelability. The goal is a 300- to 500-
Wh/L device ready for transition to the PMS 406 UUV
Knifefish program of record for subsequent integration
into a vehicle for in-water testing in fiscal year 2018.
The UUV air-independent energy technology emerging
from both the INP and FNC programs will have the
capability to meet the Navy’s near-term and far-term
objectives to provide a persistent forward presence.
Perhaps more important, it will enable manned platforms
to operate independently hundreds of miles removed
from areas of conflict, resulting in reduced risk to
naval personnel and platforms. UUVs with prolonged
endurance also will provide force multiplication through
the employment of numerous small autonomous
vehicles from one host platform. In the future, high-
endurance UUVs operating in concert with manned
platforms and one another will provide increased search
rates and area coverage, improved efficiency, and
distributed sensing—all adding significant flexibility and
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
options to future naval operations.
About the author:
Eric Dow is a program officer with Naval Undersea
Warfare Center Newport Division.
Maria Medeiros and Michele Anderson are program
officers with the Office of Naval Research.
31
 A POWERFUL LOCATION: stochastic (both random and variable), and pulsed. The
capacity of traditional alternating current ship service
The Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station generation and distribution systems can be increased
by using larger generators at a higher voltage to provide
By Dr. E. Michael Golda additional power. While this approach is being used on the
Arleigh Burke (DDG 51)-class Flight III, there are limitations
caused by increasing power system size and weight.
In January 2000, the secretary of the Navy endorsed
an alternative approach to meeting future shipboard
power and energy needs—the integrated power system
(IPS). By changing from a mechanical to an electrical
propulsion system and taking advantage of advances in
solid-state power electronics, a ship with IPS can make
more effective use of its installed prime movers and use
a common distribution system and advanced machinery
controls to distribute electric power as required between
machinery and mission loads. The Zumwalt (DDG
1000)-class destroyer is the first Navy combatant to
incorporate IPS. While this system has the flexibility to
accommodate the new weapon systems of the last
several years, the Navy may need to investigate medium-
voltage, direct-current architectures to accommodate
the continued increase in the requirement for shipboard
power.
Developing and Transitioning
Technology
NAVSSES’s responsibilities are broad in scope and include:
mechanical and electrical power and propulsion systems;
auxiliary machinery systems; machinery automation,
controls, sensors, and networks; comprehensive logistical
support; and machinery systems integration. The 1,500
scientists, engineers, and skilled technicians of NAVSSES
have the knowledge, skills, experience, facilities, and
equipment to conduct science and technology, research
and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support,
engineering, systems integration, in-service engineering,
and fleet support.
NAVSSES centralizes its machinery science and
technology and research and development efforts in
one division (Machinery Research and Silencing). This
enhances efficiency by making it easier to develop and
sustain personnel with in-depth technical expertise in
naval machinery research by enabling them to focus on
monitoring advances in fundamental science and actively
participate in developing new technologies. With this
expertise, these personnel can also provide technical
leadership and respond to emergent Navy needs.

The development of shipboard power and energy By routinely updating the Electrical Power Systems Life

Photo by Joe Battista

technologies is a joint effort between the Navy, industry,
and academia. Major Navy participants include:
• The Office of Naval Research (ONR) Ship Systems
and Engineering Research Division funds the basic
and applied research and advanced technology
The DDG 1000 land-based test site provides experience with new ship systems going into the Zumwalt class.
development for shipboard electrical power
Cycle Master Plan, engineers provide fleet support can
identify performance gaps and provide firsthand lessons
learned on current components and systems to the
scientists and engineers developing new technologies.
Researchers and in-service engineers can work together
to write clear and concise specifications to ensure the
Navy acquires systems with the performance needed to

S
ince the advent of electronics, US Navy ships have
steadily increased their use of energy to provide
the additional power required by advances in
sensors and weapons. A team composed of experts from
the Navy, industry, and academia is working to create
and integrate new technologies into shipboard systems
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
A Trend of Increasing Power
• The Electric Ships Office (PMS 320) of Program
To accomplish its mission, a warship’s infrastructure of
machinery and mission loads (sensors and weapons)
must manage both energy (the potential to do work)
and power (the rate at which energy is transferred).
generation, distribution, storage, and control
Executive Office Ships continues the maturation
of successful ONR developments to ensure
components and systems are available to meet the
schedule of future acquisition programs
meet warfighting requirements. The input of NAVSSES
engineers during the industry design reviews helps
identify and resolve technical issues early on, reducing
program technical and financial risk. The full-scale testing
facilities at NAVSSES provide a cost-effective venue to
integrate and characterize a component or system before

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

that satisfy these constantly increasing requirements. The
Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station (NAVSSES) is a
key member of this team. NAVSSES, a command within
the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division,
is the Navy’s center for naval machinery for surface and
undersea vehicles. The station’s responsibilities span
the entire machinery life cycle from concept through
development and transition to acquisition, introduction
to the fleet, in-service engineering support, and disposal
at the end of service life.
Since World War II, naval surface forces have exhibited
installation at the shipyard, both during construction and
a constant increase in the power requirements for each
• Within the Naval Sea Systems Command Naval periodic modernizations during a ship’s service life.
successive generation of shipboard mission loads as
Systems Engineering Directorate (SEA 05), the
capabilities are improved and new technologies are
technical warrant holder for machinery and electrical Exploratory Development
introduced to meet warfighting requirements. There is
systems, is accountable for setting the appropriate
nothing to suggest any change in the trend of increasing The majority of NAVSSES technology development and
technical standards, ensuring safe and reliable
power requirements for mission loads for the next transition efforts are funded by ONR, Naval Sea Systems
operation, conducting effective and efficient systems
generation of surface combatants. In addition, providing Command, and various program executive offices.
engineering, and maintaining stewardship of the
power when and where needed will become more However, the Naval Innovation Science and Engineering
engineering and technical capabilities that support
difficult, as these loads will be larger and nonlinear, Section 219 program authorized in 2009 provides the
this technical area.

32 33
 A POWERFUL LOCATION
warfare centers with discretionary funding to be used as
they direct to foster high-risk basic and applied research,
develop programs to transition technologies to the fleet,
and support the development of workforce technical
expertise. These funds are already making significant
contributions to naval energy and power technologies,
such as high-temperature superconductivity.
Superconductors are materials that lose all electrical
resistance when maintained within an operating
region bounded by a critical temperature, a critical
current density, and a critical magnetic flux. Metallic
superconductors (low-temperature superconductors)
became available in long lengths in the 1960s and resulted
in the commercial development of magnetic resonance
imaging. The absence of electrical resistance enables
extremely power-dense machines. The Navy designed,
fabricated, and conducted an at-sea demonstration of
a prototype superconducting generator and propulsion
motor in the early 1980s. The need for liquid helium
to cool the superconducting wire was a significant
mechanical and logistical issue. The discovery in
1987 of ceramic superconductors that transitioned
to the superconducting state at a higher temperature
sparked a renewed Navy interest. Liquid helium was no
longer required, and compact, commercially available
mechanical refrigerators (cryocoolers) could provide
the required cooling. ONR funded the development of a
full-scale, high-temperature superconducting propulsion
motor, which was tested at NAVSSES in 2009.
In 2004, ONR funded NAVSSES to evaluate the feasibility
of reducing the weight of shipboard degaussing systems
(which make ships less vulnerable to magnetic mines)
by replacing the copper cables with superconductors.
The study showed that even with the requirement
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
for mechanical refrigerators, significant reductions in
the system weight were possible. To accomplish this
application, NAVSSES engineers developed and patented
a design for a high-temperature superconducting
system that used a gaseous cryogen for cooling the
cable. Successful laboratory demonstrations validated
the concept. ONR SwampWorks funded an at-sea
demonstration aboard USS Higgins (DDG 76), during
which the unit operated for more than 9,000 hours. To
34
speed development in the components required in a
cryogenic electrical system, such as cable connectors,
circulation fans, temperature sensors, and cryocoolers,
NAVSSES engineers developed appropriate interface
specifications and took full advantage of the innovative
ideas from the Navy Small Business Innovation Research
program to fund the design and fabrication. NAVSSES
engineers were recognized by both the Naval Sea Systems
Command and the Department of the Navy for their
accomplishments.
NAVSSES is using Naval Innovation and Science and
Engineering 219 funds to develop expertise in areas of
high-temperature superconducting medium voltage
distribution cables that are unique to naval applications,
such as contact resistance and cryogenic dielectric
materials. Additional basic research is being conducted
to develop both a thermal model of a shipboard
superconducting cable and an advanced cryogenic
cooling concept.
Test and Evaluation
Electrical rotating machines are key elements of a ship’s
power systems. Motors transform electrical to rotation
mechanical energy to power machinery and propel the
ship, while generators convert rotational mechanical
energy into electrical energy. The power density of a
generator can be increased by raising the rotational speed
and voltage. In 2005, PMS 320 contracted with Curtiss-
Wright’s Electro-Mechanical Division to design and build
a 14-megawatt, 7,000-rpm generator with a six-phase,
6,600-volt AC output. By using water-cooling circuits
in the rotor field winding, the stator winding, and the
stator core, this developmental generator had a power
density six times greater than a similarly sized low-speed,
conventionally cooled generator.
NAVSSES constructed a test site that would permit full
load testing of the generator. The test facility drivetrain
uses a 3,600-rpm motor coupled to a speed-increasing
gearbox to achieve the 7,000 rpm required by the
generator. Following the generator’s delivery in 2010,
NAVSSES spent the next two years conducting the PMS
320 test plan before the program concluded. Based on
lessons learned during this testing, NAVSSES engineers
believed there was additional engineering knowledge
that could be gained by NAVSSES testing after the
PMS 320 program concluded. Using Naval Innovation
Science and Engineering 219 funds, NAVSSES engineers
As the Navy’s center for
electrical power and
propulsion machinery,
NAVSSES’s responsibilities
span the full life cycle of
electric power technology.
investigated and resolved vibration issues in the gearbox
foundation. With continued funding in 2013, the test
team conducted multiple eight-hour operational
tests with outputs up to full load to investigate the
performance of the water-cooling circuits at steady state
temperatures.
The availability of Naval Innovation Science and
Engineering 219 funding resulted in applied engineering
knowledge that can be applied directly to the design of
both future generators and the associated test sites. In
addition, more than 20 junior engineers gained direct,
hands-on experience in high-speed machinery analysis
and operation.
System Integration
New technologies only enhance Navy capabilities if they
are successfully commissioned into service. NAVSSES has
pioneered the use of the land-based test site (LBTS) to
validate the design, manufacturability, and performance
of full-scale machinery components and demonstrate
the ability to integrate those components and controls
into a system that meets Navy specifications. The LBTS
can document full-scale system characteristics with
production hardware and identify best practices to lower
the risks of shipyard activation and trials. Additional
benefits include the ability to provide training for the
shipyard, precommissioning crew, and the NAVSSES
engineers supporting trials and providing in-service
engineering support. Since 1941, the Navy has evaluated
12 full-scale, surface ship propulsion systems at
NAVSSES, either to reduce acquisition risk for a new ship
class or to develop and demonstrate a new propulsion
technology (including IPS).
A single LBTS supported the development and
maturation of IPS technology and its transition to
the DDG 1000 IPS. The process began in 1995 with
the integration of less-costly, smaller components
and controls to create a Reduced-Scale Advanced
Development IPS to validate the fundamental concept.
Full-scale components, such as the main propulsion
generator, were then manufactured and integrated
as part of the Full-Scale Advanced Development IPS.
Testing was completed in 1999 and provided the
technical validation needed to select an IPS for DDG
1000. Following the award of the DDG 1000 contract,
an engineering development model was installed,
which successfully achieved both the design output
torque of the propulsion motor and the predicted fuel
consumption of the main turbine generator in 2005.
Finally, one shaft set of the third production IPS ship-
set was installed and tested at the LBTS between 2011
and 2013.
Summary
NAVSSES is a key member in the Navy, industry, and
academia team developing technologies to address the
power and energy needs of future naval combatants and
increase the capabilities of ships already in the fleet. As
the Navy’s center for electrical power and propulsion
machinery, NAVSSES’s responsibilities span the full life
cycle of electric power technology. The organizational
structure of NAVSSES and its extensive facilities and
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
infrastructure provides a locale to integrate advanced
machinery components into full-scale systems for test
and evaluation, reducing program risk during transition
to the fleet.
About the author:
Dr. Golda is the chief technologist of the Naval Ship
Systems Engineering Station.
35
 W
ith an expansion in breadth of capability and mission profiles
across the Department of Defense (DoD), current and future
naval platforms increasingly require integrated energy
storage systems to support the fielding of a multitude of high-power-
consumption electrical loads from advanced weapons and sensors.
All-electric platform designs, and the cost-driven mandate toward
fuel-efficient plant operations, exacerbate the need for hybridized
energy storage and transfer solutions. Energy storage systems
have long been a compromise between total energy storage, high
discharge and charge rates, overall efficiency, and other factors. Hybrid
energy storage—which includes combinations of power and energy
devices such as batteries, capacitors, flywheels, or a mix of different
battery types—is intended to enhance the integration of existing
power systems with storage and buffering. This approach maximizes
operational safety, reliability, efficiency, and security; optimizes
installed storage; and minimizes total weight, overhead, and costs.
Hybrid energy storage modules (HESM) with high-power and-energy
By Donald J. Hoffman
densities, high-rate capability, and scalability to all power levels will
maximize performance, enhance fuel efficiency, and enable future
high-power weapon and sensor systems on current and next-
generation vehicles and platforms. This capability will store electrical
energy while providing variable charge and discharge rates in high-
power-density, dynamic, modularly reconfigurable architectures. The
HESM program, cosponsored by the assistant secretaries of defense
for research and engineering and operational energy plans and
programs, addresses advanced technology development associated
with providing the capability to enhance fuel efficiency, maximize
performance and reliability, and enable future high-power weapon
and sensor systems on current and next-generation Army and
Marine Corps battlefield generators and vehicles, Air Force and Navy
aircraft, and Navy ships. The Office of Naval Research is leading the
overall effort, which has established three overarching track areas
associated with Department of Defense (DoD) operations directed by
individual services. These include: Tactical (Army lead), a plug-and-
play configuration for capability and fuel efficiency in a battlefield
environment; Aircraft (Air Force lead), improved generator and power
system reliability; Large Power (Navy lead), continuous transient
support and fuel-efficient operation.
Each development track is establishing a basis of understanding and
benefit of HESM operation in a military environment with planned
subscale development and demonstrations. Once demonstrations are
complete, the technologies will transition to the individual services.
In partnership, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
(ARPA-E) released a solicitation entitled “Advanced Management and
Protection of Energy storage Devices” (AMPED). This effort aims to
unlock enormous untapped potential in the performance, safety,
and overall cycle lifetime of today’s commercial battery chemistries
exclusively through system-level innovations, which are distinct from
efforts to enhance underlying battery materials and architectures.
The AMPED program focuses on novel science and technology
advances in sensing, control, and power management technologies
to enable entirely new capabilities for battery management and cycle
life. The program also provides a toolset of approaches that can be
readily leveraged to integrate high-energy battery systems and enable
aggressive usage profiles in hybridized energy storage systems.
36
In November 2014, the Army’s tactical track conducted
a successful demonstration of HESM capability. The unit,
developed by Acumentrics Inc., highlighted the potential
to achieve optimal efficient configuration with plug-and-
play capability to enhance versatility and reduce fuel use
for emerging military microgrids and tactical hybrid power
systems. This was accomplished by using a reconfigurable
direct current (DC) architecture stabilized by hybrid energy
storage. System performance resulted in the ability to power
manage multiple dissimilar DC power sources, such as solar
photo voltaic cells, fuel cells, etc., working in conjunction
with existing generators as needed to achieve higher
efficiency total system performance. The HESM tactical
track completed its operational demonstration milestone
two years ahead of schedule.
The Air Force’s aircraft track has two HESM development
efforts under way through Eaglepitcher and Pratt & Whitney
to improve the capability of the More Electric Aircraft (MEA).
The MEA has created opportunities for new subsystem
designs and an increase in dynamic electric loads. As a
result, more capabilities have been required of the electrical
power system, including sourcing more power and reacting
to regenerative energy. As more electrically demanding
loads are added to aircraft, the electric power system will be
required to service higher power peaks at faster rates. The
intent is to improve MEA key characteristics: electrical power
quality, component lifespan, and overall system performance
for all flight conditions, including possible weight and volume
savings. A successful program will result in the construction
and demonstration of an HESM unit, consisting of an
electrical accumulator unit using at least two different types
of energy storage devices operating in a coordinated manner
to support the overall objective in an optimized manner. The
demonstration is planned for fiscal year 2016.
The Navy’s large power track is developing three HESM
systems through Caterpillar, General Electric, and Raytheon.
Each effort examines a different configuration of hybrid
energy storage to buffer high-power, stochastic (i.e., random)
pulse loads operating in conjunction with existing power
generation in large grids such as Navy ships.
Future naval platforms will have demanding and complex
electrical loads in shipboard integrated power systems.
Emerging loads require a range of power levels over a
spectrum of time scales such as milliseconds for advanced
weapons, seconds or a fraction of a second for transients,
and minutes for single or fewer generator high-efficiency
operation and uninterruptible power source functions.
These diverse loads are not easily accommodated by a
traditional ship’s power distribution system supported by
only prime mover power generation sources. This shortfall
in current designs necessitates hybrid energy storage
systems to bridge the energy and power gap in different
time scales for seamless and uninterrupted operation. The
HESM program objective is to develop and demonstrate
scalable and modular HESMs for naval ships’ large power
applications, supporting continuous pulse loads which
can occur in random patterns at multiple time scales, and
ensuring the delivery of quality electrical power with safety
and reliability, minimal component weight and volume, and
maximal component life. Each of these demonstrations will
be completed in fiscal year 2015 or 2016.
The first HESM program large power track demonstration
was completed by General Electric in May 2015. The proof-
of-concept HESM prototype successfully operated under
a number of operational modes (e.g., charge optimization,
sustainment, and augmentation) with and without prime
mover input. Various other load profiles and operating
scenarios were tested satisfactorily to validate the HESM
capability of supporting continuous stochastic loads with
required response time for both alternating current (AC)
and DC loads. The modular proof-of-concept HESM can be
scaled-up for multimegawatt shipboard distributed and/or
centralized installations for low-voltage (less than or equal
to 1000 volts) and medium-voltage (1-20 kilovolts) direct
current or alternating current integrated ship power systems.
For all HESM efforts, the associated original equipment
manufacturer is accounting for AMPED technology
integration. The synergy derives from making best use
of traditional technology development in each agency.
DoD traditionally develops technology driven to meet
military mission needs defined by requirements and
specifications, depending upon the platform, conops, and
environment. To meet mission needs, DoD is willing to
accept risk and maturate technology through development
and demonstration until the technology readiness level is
acceptable. ARPA-E traditionally develops technology for
the commercial sector that is driven to generate economic
benefits. By nature, the commercial sector is risk averse
to adopt new technology unless it is economically viable
or can be demonstrated to be ready for implementation.
Through partnerships, DoD can benefit by accelerating
the development and potential adoption of technology
targeted for the commercial sector by the Department of
Energy that increases the capabilities of military platforms
and reduces costs.
Advancing HESM technology through partnerships of multiple
agencies and services provides the vital collaboration for
developing, demonstrating, and commercializing advanced
technology. HESM will enable modularly scalable solutions
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
for next-generation naval combatants to ensure they will be
able to employ the full spectrum of advanced weapons and
sensors currently in development. HESM is a vital enabling
component required to advance the Navy’s power projection
and lethality into the future to ensure warfighter dominance
in combat.
About the author:
Don Hoffman is the program officer at the Office of Naval
Research responsible for the development of power
generation and energy storage systems.
37
 By Jay Pinsky Tesla Motors executive Mateo Jaramillo (opposite) talks about and the Experimental Fuel Cell unmanned aerial vehicle
lithium ion batteries at the Naval Surface Warfare Center demonstration. “They have all shown that advanced energy
Carderock Division in June 2015. Photo by Devin Pisner.
storage technologies can enable important and disruptive
enhancing naval system ranges; lowering individual
capabilities for the fleet,” Arcano said. Ongoing research
warfighters’ loads on dismounted patrols; and improving
and development, along with ever-increasing real-world
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
application experience, have created an exponential
technology boost globally, with Navy minds eager to
The summit aimed to make significant contributions to
capture industry advances for naval applications.
the long-term goals of solving the affordability of future
stored energy needs; developing better collaboration
“Energy density of previous battery technologies was
across the technical communities; and creating a common
limited and insufficient to meet fleet needs,” said Arcano.
understanding of the affordability challenges of stored
“Nickel-cadmium batteries were overtaken by nickel-metal-
energy—all of which are priorities for the Navy. “The CNO
hydride in the early 1990s, and lithium ion chemistries have
has stated that he wants a comprehensive, system-agnostic,
been used over the past 15 years, overtaking automotive,

Stored Energy:
lithium battery certification process to be developed for
Regardless of what course the Navy sets for the surface ship, submarine, and other undersea warfare
cellular phone, portable device, and military markets.

future, one thing is certain: Energy will play a key role.
applications now,” said Dr. Tim Arcano, Carderock’s
technical director. “It is a priority of his and has become a
funded Speed-to-Fleet program. Success of this program
depends on advanced capabilities and safety to maintain
military dominance. We need both of these, but we also
We need to continue to develop and adapt cutting-edge
storage technologies and be open to future systems and
technologies as they become available.”
The visions shared among peers at the summit fell into
three basic areas: improving energy storage acquisitions and

W
here this energy comes from and what it will need to be able to afford them.” programmatic tools; improving and standardizing energy
cost, however, remain unclear. No secret to storage technologies; and initiating Navy and Defense
anyone in the defense industry, the Navy’s One of the most popular topics of the summit was
policies. “The technical community felt we needed to
ongoing quest for clean, safe, sustainable, and affordable batteries—specifically lithium ion—including how to build
provide better tools to inform and enable the acquisition
energy is the daily motivation of many military and civilian them, store them, use them, test and field them safely, and
community,” said Eric Shields, group leader for the
minds. Since great minds think, but not all alike, the sustain them affordably.
advanced power and energy group in Carderock’s Materials
leadership at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock and Power Systems Branch.
The summit’s validation of lithium ion batteries as part
Division gathered many of the Navy’s top energy experts
of the Navy’s stored energy future was highlighted by
in West Bethesda, Maryland, on 2-3 June for a two- One idea was constructing a database of batteries fielded
keynote speaker Mateo Jaramillo, director of Tesla Energy
day energy storage summit cohosted by Naval Surface and tested, coupled with a cost-versus-time estimation and
at Tesla Motors, a global leader in battery integration and
Warfare Center Crane Division to unravel and solve reporting tool. According to Shields, there are three primary
advancement. Jaramillo shared Tesla’s vision for lithium
some of the Navy’s current and future energy storage reasons for maintaining a lithium battery safety database:
ion battery growth worldwide, highlighting rapid industry
requirements. To identify options and gain a better understanding of
advancements in manufacturing, logistics, and sustainability
scheduling and cost implications of technology selections;
The summit’s findings shed some light on how the Navy as cornerstones to more affordable fuel storage energy
to eliminate redundant testing and share knowledge; and to
plans to mitigate future costs for its energy needs by solutions and profitability.
create a centralized database for validation and verification
focusing on the affordability of energy storage solutions purposes. Shields said the idea’s perceived benefits would
The future of energy storage is especially critical to the
for advanced weapon systems; generating energy- support commonality among programs, reduce redundant
unmanned undersea vehicle field, according to Navy Capt.
efficient power; maintaining undersea dominance; testing, expedite information to program offices, support
David Honabach, program manager for unmanned maritime
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

analyses of alternatives, and act as a risk reducer.
systems at Naval Sea Systems Command, who spoke about
affordable battery modules during the summit.“I see lithium
The group first met at Crane last fall and plans to meet again
ion [batteries] as a critical steppingstone to support the
in spring 2016.
future integration of advanced energy,” he said.

The Navy already has had some success using alternative

energy. Arcano cited several well-documented triumphs,
including the MK-18 Mod II Kingfish unmanned underwater
vehicle mine detection program, the F-35C Lightning
II, the Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy System,
About the author:
Jay Pinsky is a writer with corporate communications at
Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division. He is a
retired U.S. Navy chief petty officer.

38 39
 or night vision batteries. All MAPS
components operate together while
stationary or on the move.
The Protonex Vest Power Manager
(VPM-402) serves as the electrical
“brain” of MAPS. Its low mass and
small size (about the size of a deck of
cards) provides an interface between
power sources and loads up to 75
watts, between four to 34 volts of
direct current. The VPM recognizes
connected devices through
programmed cables and automatically
adjusts each port for the appropriate
electrical settings. It provides users
with state-of-charge indication,
two output load ports, one central
TOMORROW’S TECH: power input, and an all-purpose
scavenging input port. The VPM can
HEPV’s increased efficiency translates
directly to smaller area. The HEPV
panel, designed to fit on an assault
pack, produces 14-17 watts under
real-world conditions and is small
enough to remain on an assault pack
deployed. The panel can be worn for
solar charging on the move and easily
detached for rapid deployment in
stationary operation. Multiple HEPVs
can be “daisy chained” and used by a
single VPM.
Configurations
An important element of MAPS
integration is form factor, or size. An
individual system needs to be modular
and configurable to fit different
mission profiles and human factors:
was available. The initial MAPS field
demonstrations took place in summer
and winter conditions at the Army
National Guard Maneuver Training
Center at Virginia’s Fort Pickett during
two Marine Corps training exercises.
These demonstrations monitored
solar conditions to establish
performance expectations and set up
experiment and control groups with
and without the MAPS. During these
exercises individual warfighters used
the gear, giving valuable insights into
what would become the ultimate
embodiment of MAPS.
The final effort from the MAPS
program was tested with much
success at the Marine Corps Mountain
Warfare Training Center located in the

Marine Austere use solar power or be connected to

auxiliary vehicle power, scavenging Wearable: Individuals may choose
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
in California. The final product was

Patrolling System up to 75 watts. It charges standard

military batteries commonly carried
by dismounted Marines. The VPM-
By Phillip Jenkins and Eric South
402 is equipped with a data-logging
capability and can be used as a USB
power and data hub.
While MAPS is capable of scavenging
power from different types of
Marines test out the Marine Austere Patrolling System, which helps to recharge gear in the field, at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare power sources, a high-efficiency
Training Center north of Yosemite National Park in California. photovoltaic (HEPV) panel was
specially developed for MAPS. The
to wear MAPS gear by Modular
Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment
(MOLLE) weaving onto the vest.
Placement of the components varies
significantly according to individual
size and billet within a squad. Squad
leaders may find that wearable
configurations (adjusted to their own
preferences) provide access to power
management, electronic control, and
state of charge while on the move.
demonstrated as versatile, small, and
lightweight. These trials helped to
tune the capability, improve essential
features, and discard little-used or
redundant features and has provided
quantified, real-world experience.
About the authors:
Phillip Jenkins is an electrical
engineer and head of the

T
he modern warfighter’s reliance
on electronic systems to
increase combat effectiveness
comes at a cost: a greater pack
weight for dismounted Marines that
potentially limits mission duration
because of limited battery capacity.
Expeditionary forces also are hindered
from extended mission assignments
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015
MAPS is a collaboration between
the Marine Corps Expeditionary
Energy Office’s Squad Electric Power
Network project team and the US
Naval Research Laboratory. MAPS
is intended to lighten warfighter
loads by reducing battery weight
and water supplies. MAPS integrates
a lightweight, wearable, electrical
systems, and the Marine Corps will
look for an opportunity to leverage that
technology development.
The MAPS system demonstrates
the utility of harvesting energy for
dismounted Marines and provides a
roadmap for future portable energy-
harvesting systems.
HEPV, developed by MicroLink
Devices and the Naval Research
Laboratory, uses solar cells similar
to those on modern satellites and
is four to five times more efficient
than those found in first-generation
portable power systems. The HEPV
solar cells are made from what are
known as “III-V” semiconductors (from
Packable: MAPS gear can be
packaged in a backpack-style kit.
The kit resembles a day pack in size.
Members of the squad without a large
electronic load may find a packable
solution allows a high degree of
modularity or flexibility in carried
MAPS components. The system can
be removed and replaced most easily
Naval Research Laboratory’s
Photovoltaic Section. He has
more than 25 years of experience
in advance photovoltaic research
serving both the Defense
Department and NASA missions.
Eric South is an electrical

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

by requirements to carry all necessary
drinking water, which can range from
12.5 to 25 pounds per day, depending
on the environment. The Marine
Austere Patrolling System (MAPS) has
demonstrated a renewable energy
capability in the form of solar panels,
significantly reducing the need for
battery resupply, and tested a prototype
portable water filtration system.
power management and distribution
system, solar energy-harvesting
technology, and an on-demand water
purification system. The Individual
Water Purification System provides
a physical barrier from protozoa,
bacteria, and viruses, allowing users to
collect untreated water directly into
the reservoir and purify as they drink.
The Army is evaluating other portable
Components
The electrical portion of MAPS
consists of a central power manager,
a conformal wearable rechargeable
lithium battery, a high-efficiency
solar panel, and distributed charging
interconnects for individual
components such as radios, GPS,
their location on the periodic table).
Using III-V materials allows monolithic
integration of a series of three stacked
solar cells where each cell converts
a portion of the solar spectrum at
a higher efficiency than a single
solar cell can over the entire solar
spectrum. These solar cell stacks are
only 10-20 micrometers thick, remain
flexible, and are extremely lightweight.
in the packable configuration.
During development, it was always
recognized that end-user feedback
was the only way to properly design
MAPS’s form, fit, and function.
Conducting early field trials
established the best ergonomic fit
and attachment system even before
the optimal electrical functionality
engineer at the Naval Surface
Warfare Center Dahlgren Division.
He is the lead engineer for MAPS
and its follow-on efforts with
the Marine Corps and Army, and
serves as a subject matter expert
for dismounted infantry energy
sustainment.

40 41
 A LOOK AHEAD
ADVANCED MATERIALS
By Dr. Julie Christodoulou

T
he next edition of Future Force will focus on advanced materials, which enable each of the emerging capabilities
being developed to support our Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and Marines.

Materials science and engineering is the practice of harnessing chemistry and physics to discover and develop
new materials for improved performance or extended service. These also may involve the development of new
processing schemes for existing materials for higher performance in new applications, or reduced cost-of-system or
platform production.

Advances in materials and materials systems, including thermal and environmental barrier coatings, have enabled military
and commercial aircraft turbine engines to operate at temperatures in excess of the melting temperature of the metal
alloys used in the critical components. Higher operating temperatures allow for higher fuel efficiencies. Current efforts to
expand these systems’ resilience to the harsh environment faced by shipboard turbine engines will bring these efficiencies
to naval ships, while reducing required maintenance operations. New systems based on ceramic matrix composites will
allow the next generation of turbine engines to operate at temperatures 200-400 degrees Fahrenheit higher.

Understanding the complex biochemistry of biofoulants and the adhesives they use to establish themselves and their
families on ship hulls is leading to new nontoxic and effective surface coatings that prevent the transport of nonnative
species. Some of these coatings are modelled after very efficient biological systems, including shark skin, which have
surface features at the scale of nanometers that make biofouling impossible. These materials technologies allow the Navy
to operate anywhere in the world while complying with environmental regulations. They also reduce maintenance costs,
as well as drag, improving fuel efficiencies for transit by as much as 4 percent.

New electroactive materials—and the deep understanding of how they perform as a function of composition and
processing and how they degrade in service—are leading to new high-energy-density capacitors to provide reliable
and more compact power capabilities. New compositions and structures are enabling more efficient and more stable
batteries for large systems onboard ships and Marine Corps vehicles, as well as the portable communications gear that
Marines carry into missions. New active materials systems for solar cells are bringing ever-renewable and affordable
power to expeditionary bases.

Survivability is imparted at acceptable weights and volumes through the development of new systems of materials and
deeper understanding of how these materials and systems respond to high-energy, dynamic loading events. Ultra-
high-temperature materials are enabling forward projection by providing the stability and control needed for advanced
missiles and projectiles. New optical windows that can withstand hypersonic flight are enabled by new compositions
and processing capabilities. Affordable manufacturing and production is enabled by emerging processing capabilities,
including solid-state joining and surface modification through friction stir welding and processing, advanced composite
FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

FUTURE FORCE: SUMMER EDITION 2015

processing, and agile manufacturing technologies including powder processing and additive manufacturing.

Underlying all of these advances is the foundational understanding that allows for performance prediction and Advanced Materials
accelerated certification of materials and processes. Because the number of materials of interest to the Navy and Marine
The science and systems that harness chemistry and physics to discover
Corps is nearly infinite, the coming issue of Future Force will provide just a few snapshots of current efforts sponsored
new materials or innovative ways of using existing materials for naval
by the Office of Naval Research and being conducted in the Naval Science and Technology Enterprise—our laboratory
applications.
system, universities here and abroad, and defense industry laboratories.

Dr. Christodoulou is the director of the Naval Materials science and technology division
at the Office of Naval Research.
42 43
The Large Displacement
Unmanned Undersea
Vehicle-Innovative Naval
Prototype was on display
publicly for the first time
at the Office of Naval
Research exhibit during the
Navy League’s 50th annual
Sea-Air-Space Exposition.
The power demands
of undersea and other
unmanned vehicles such as
this are spurring new and
important areas of research.

Photo by John F. Williams

FUTURE FORCE is a professional magazine of the

naval science and technology community published
quarterly by the Office of Naval Research.
Future Force
Office of Naval Research
875 N. Randolph Street, Suite 1425
Arlington, VA 22203-1995

Email: futureforce@navy.mil
Phone: (703) 696-5031
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